Robert Anthony Bryant accused in fraud scheme

July 24, 2009|By Ray Gibson, Tribune reporter

A Chicago businessman once accused of being involved in the theft of land from financially strapped churches was indicted Thursday in an unrelated fraud scheme that allegedly netted him more than $1 million from investors.

The charges against Robert Anthony Bryant stem from his business that sold tax-delinquent properties to investors, but they were never able to obtain the land.

Bryant pleaded not guilty to the scheme following his arrest in May.

According to the indictment, Bryant made false statements to Mutual Bank in order to obtain $3.5 million to run his business. The indictment alleges that Bryant never disclosed to the bank that he owed an accused drug dealer $480,000. He also told the bank that he had filed federal income tax returns for six years when he hadn't, authorities said.

He is also accused of trying to evade currency-reporting requirements in a series of cash withdrawals of amounts less than $10,000.

The indictment seeks the forfeiture of $3.1 million.

Authorities alleged that Bryant sometimes operated his business like a Ponzi scheme. "Bryant used proceeds obtained from certain victims to make partial refund payments to other victims, thereby lulling the victims into believing that Bryant would and could fulfill his promise of a full refund," the indictment said.

Rufus Cook, Bryant's lawyer, has said in court filings that he had been told by prosecutors that he was also a target of the grand jury investigation. Cook was not charged in Thursday's indictment, but a company he controls allegedly played a role in the scheme.

Bryant had been under federal scrutiny since the 1990s, records show, but federal agents renewed their investigation after Tribune stories in 2006 implicated him in a scheme to steal property from churches, non-profits and others.

Bryant sometimes partnered with Phillip Radmer, a disbarred Berwyn attorney who is serving a 12-year prison term for the thefts of church lots.